“No Place Like Home” – GPS Shoes by Dominic Wilcox

Dominic Wilcox is a British designer who creates unique and innovative objects, drawings and installations. One of his latest creations is a pair of bespoke leather shoes with an embedded GPS that guides the wearer home:

“I was commissioned by the Global Footprint project in Northamptonshire, a place famous for shoe making, to create some shoes. I decided to make a pair of shoes that can navigate you to anywhere you wish to travel to. I thought about the Wizard of Oz and how Dorothy could click her shoes together to go home.” – Dominic Wilcox ¹

After uploading one’s required destination to the shoes via a piece of custom-made mapping software and a USB cable, the GPS, which is embedded in the heel, is activated by a heel click. It then points the wearer in the right direction via a ring of LED lights. In addition, the right shoe—which communicates wirelessly with the GPS—has a bar of lights that measures the progress toward one’s destination.

Wilcox collaborated with interactive arts and technology expert Becky Stewart and local Northampton shoe maker Stamp Shoes in order to create the fully functioning prototypes. See them in action in the video below:

You can view more photos and details of the development process over at Dominic Wilcox’s website.

¹ Source: Dominicwilcox.com

Thanks to the good folks at designboom for the heads up.